Irvin, a seven-year Sheriff's Office veteran, was praised by the department for his "quick thinking" in chasing down the gunman, cornering him and arresting him.

"Because of Deputy Irvin's swift actions, no one was injured," said Sheriff's Office spokesman Hugh Graf.

Irvin was on routine patrol, monitoring after-hours programs at the school in the 1900 block of Northwest 19th Street. Around 5:24 p.m. he got a radio report of gunfire in the park just north of campus. The deputy ran to the scene.

"I observed a male lift up his hand and fire a .380 semi-automatic into a group of kids," Irvin said. "He fired in their direction."

Upon seeing Irvin, the teenager fled west. The deputy, who's worked for two years as a school resource officer at Lauderhill Middle, gave speedy chase, pursuing the shooter up a pedestrian walkway over the nearby Florida's Turnpike.

Trapped and facing Irvin's draw gun, the teenage suspect surrendered. Irvin found the pistol wrapped in a T-shirt on the walkover, as well as two spent shell casings.

The suspect, a seventh-grader at Lauderdale Lakes Middle School, was charged with discharging a firearm in public, improper exhibition of a firearm and discharging a weapon within 1,000 feet of a school-sponsored event.

Police on Friday were left pondering the cause of the shooting and where the teen got the gun.

"Our detectives are still interviewing our little student of the month," Graf said.

Irvin supposed the shooting resulted from "a little problem between him and the other kids."